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SYMPTOMS: The game launcher gets stuck at “Installing Pre-requisites” “Attempting to connect Retry in X seconds”, or otherwise cannot launch when you are attempting to log in and select your world server.

SYMPTOMS: As you select a world server and click "Play" (or later "Enter Middle-Earth) and the game client (the '3d' game rendering program basically) either stops at "Connecting to Login Servers Attempt 1 of 20" or "Retrieving Character Data" or after when you get to the character select and receive a black screen with the error message "Connection to the server has been lost" or can only log into either one specific world, or only specific characters (Note: this specific connection issue also includes losing connection with characters during play).

SOLUTION: Most often this is either something preventing the game client program "Lotroclient.exe" from either accessing the internet outbound, or accepting inbound connections (from the server) or from using the ports/protocols it needs to be able to connect. Perform the steps outlined here as well as here and the knowledge base article here.

- “I am using a router and I cannot connect” or “I cannot connect to some characters/world servers”

SYMPTOMS: When you connect and you’re using a router you get “Connection to the server was lost” messages launching the game and on occasion connecting to a specific character or characters only.

SOLUTION: Start by power cycling your modem/router (turn them off, wait about 30 seconds and then turn them back on) if you are still unable to connect and you are using a router and a modem you might want to try bypassing the router and connecting your PC directly to your internet providers modem which can help to eliminate if the router is the cause of the connection loss. If you find that indeed the router is the cause, then you may need to configure port forwarding on your router. Find the exact make and model of your router (it’s usually printed on a sticker somewhere on the router) and contact your router manufacturer to determine the steps needed for setting up port forwarding on that model router. The port (ranges) that need to be forwarded for Lotro are 9000 to 9100 (UDP/TCP) and 2900 to 2910 (UDP/TCP).

If you only connect with a modem provided by your internet service provider, then it is most likely a 'two in one' device and has built-in router functionality, the above still applies since most broadband modems also function as routers. Be sure to also review the knowledge base article here.

- “When I launch the game after I choose which world server I want to log into I get a ‘black screen’ and the game never opens?” (Note: If you are getting a 'black screen' at character select but items like the menus and buttons still appear then see this section here instead).

SYMPTOMS: You login at the game launcher, choose your world server and the game launches but stays at a black screen and never opens.

SOLUTION: This issue has a few causes, the most common are usually one of the items listed below:

Your firewall is blocking the game file “lotroclient.exe” file from connecting to the internet. For steps detailing updating or configuring your firewall click here. In some cases your firewall is asking you if you want to let “lotroclient.exe” to connect to the internet, try pressing “Alt Enter” to widow the game and see if there is just such a prompt hidden by the game screen.

Your sound or video drivers are not updated and the game is having difficulty configuring it’s settings. Make sure that you have the most recent drivers available installed for your sound and video cards.

The game is attempting to set a screen resolution that is not compatible with your monitor or is not supported by your graphics card. On the launcher screen click the first button in the row in the upper right corner (the one with the single down-arrow on it) and choose “Options”. In there under the “Repair” tab click to activate the “Reset game display settings” option, click Ok and login again to test. (Occasionally you may need to manually set the full screen resolution by editing the line “Resolution=” in the [Display] section of “Userpreferences.ini” file in your “My Documents” (XP) or “Documents” (Vista) > “The Lord of the Rings Online” folder. When doing this set it to match your current screen resolution in Windows)

Occasionally a USB device or driver is not responding correctly, or is corrupted. If you have any USB devices attached to the system try uninstalling and reinstalling them and their related drivers/software. (This happens also with some models of “Wacom” graphics tablets, Logitech G15 keyboards and Saitek keyboards installed disabling/disconnecting them and reconnecting and reinstalling them will typically allow the game to launch in most cases.)

Check in the (Windows "Start" button > Control Panel") "Add or Remove Programs" (XP) or "Uninstall a Program" list for "OpenAL" or "HostADI (OpenAL)" and if you find one listed uninstall it. Once you do that then try the steps here.

- “I installed the game onto Vista or Windows 7 but I can't find an icon to launch it with?”

SYMPTOMS: You installed the game but there is not a "desktop shortcut" to launch the game with.

SOLUTION: Review the knowledge base article detailing launching the game on Vista/7 by clicking here.

- “Why does my game need to update 30000+ files?”

SYMPTOMS: You installed the game and it is updating a significantly high number of its files.

SOLUTION: If you installed from the original "Shadows of Angmar" DVD's is when this comes up. Those DVD's we're released in 2007 and need quite a significant amount of patching to become current. A faster option depending on your internet connection speed and whether or not your ISP limits your download amount per month, is to download the updated install from here. It is a fairly large initial download (+/- 12gb for the hi-res install) but its pre-updated so needs alot less patching than an SoA install does.

SYMPTOMS: You installed the game and while it is patching you receive one of the errors above regarding the installation of "DirectX 9" or "Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable".

SOLUTION: These can come up typically with installations from the original "Shadows of Angmar" install DVD's on Windows Vista. The steps here (dx9) or here (C++) should remedy the error. (Also if the error is regarding the .Net 2.0 installation those steps can also remedy that error as well)

- "I re-installed the game but it's asking me for my "Product Key" again but if I submit it it says it's in use?" or "I'm re-installing and it asks me to create a Turbine account but I already did this?"

SYMPTOMS: You reinstalled the game but when you re-submit the product key at the myaccount page it comes up as "in use".

SOLUTION: When you are re-installing the game you do not need to submit your product key again to install it (that prompt is there for when you're first installing the game but have not created an account/subscription yet). The product keys are one-time use items, and you can skip over that part asking for it and the install will proceed normally, as long as your account has an active subscription you can log into the game from any PC that has the game installed.

FREQUENTLY ASKED:
Where can I download the game for installing/re-installing? - HereDo you have a guide for installing it? -Here
Do you have a recommended method for re-installing it? - Here

- “None of these listed is my issue, or the answer given didn’t fix it for me, now what do I do?”

There are several options in this case, if your issue is not detailed here, search for it (or the error number) on the forums, it’s quite possible that it’s been posted here and someone has posted a fix or a workaround to it. Check the Knowledge Base for your issue as well, the KB is a good resource for many commonly asked questions and other issues that come up with the game.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.

Common Patching Issues

Updating this to be more overall useful as a guide to common patching issues.

--------Original Thread Below--------

Preventative Measures:

When a large patch is released or you've just performed a fresh install or re-install of the gamethere are going to be issues if your system has any issues with connectivity to the internet, system user permissions or other operating issues.

This guide is a "pre-flight" type checklist for steps to take prior to a game update or just after a reinstall.
Prior to Updating:

Update your antispyware and antivirus tools then run a full system scan

Make sure your firewall is configured correctly for the games general connection

Update your firewall manually as detailed above (if the firewall is preventing the launcher from verifying the versions of the files you have on your PC versus the ones on the server this can come up)

Open "C:\Program Files\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online and look for "TurbineRegisterGDF.exe" and on Windows XP double-click it, on Windows Vista/7 right-click it and choose "Run as Administrator". You should just get the Windows "Wait" cursor come up for a few seconds and then revert to normal. Once it does that go back and look for "TurbineLauncher" (XP) or "TurbineInvoker" (Vista/7) and using the version of those files that lists as an 'application' and has the 'one-ring' for its icon double-click on it (XP) or right-click on it and choose "Run as Administrator" (Vista/7 and just this once for testing)

Try rebooting and power cycling your modem/router (again if anything is preventing the launcher from connecting to check the file versions this can come up

"Hangs at "Getting Data Centers" or you get "20 reconnection attempts" message.

Operating System Specific issues:Windows Vista/7has UAC (User Account Control) which can (sometimes when combined with your antivirus program) prevent the launcher when it attempts to update/overwrite files. If you get any form of "permission denied" error (Error code 5, "Unable to patch AxInterop.." etc) try TEMPORARILY disabling UAC (Steps to disable UAC on Windows 7) and also (again TEMPORARILY) disabling your Antivrius programs active scanner.

Windows XPneeds "Computer Administrator" access to be able to patch update. If you have an Administrator account already (Start > Control Panel > User Accounts) there can often be registry/persmissions corruption affecting the account you are logged in as. To test for this setup a new XP User Account and when given the choice of what "type" choose "Computer Administrator". Once the account is created log off of your current one and log into the new one to test launching the game there.

__________________________

Most large patching issues are just common and easily remedied, again though if you need further instruction or have questions, or if the error you're getting is not listed here or not remedied by the steps detailed definitely open a support ticket here.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.

Error 201 "cannot open data files"

Game error 201 cant open the data files. Check that they exist and that you have permission to use them. The program will now exit 201

Error 201 has a few possible causes, this error is basically the launcher saying "I cannot find, access or use my dat (data) files!".

When it occurs it is usually one of two things, either the game client (Lotroclient.exe) is not being allowed permissions to access them or the files themselves are corrupted or missing usually due to file copy errors during installation but can also be due to corruption that occurs during patching because of file read/write errors on the system.

-Regarding the permissions based cause-

-You need to be running as Administrator on your system.

Even if you log into an Admin account, there can be issues regarding permissions/registry settings pertaining to the user account, to test Windows XP users should see this post here about creating a new XP "Computer Administrator" account (at the bottom under "Operating System Specific Issues") and log off of their current Windows user account and log into the new one to test running there.

Windows Vista and 7 users need to make sure they have User Account Control or "UAC" enabled (even if on an Admin account) because the game is run via "TurbineInvoker.exe" on Vista/7 and that file interacts with UAC to get you the correct admin permissions (it self-elevates) and if UAC is not on it cannot do this.

Both systems need to not be running any of the three game files (Turbinelauncher.exe Turbineinvoker.exe or Lotroclient.exe) under any kind of "Compatibility mode" or "Run as Admin" option.

Less common but just in case also make sure the "Turbine" folder in "C:\Program Files" and its subfolders/files are not in "read only" mode by right-clicking Turbine and choosing Properties (note: 64bit users should do this for the Turbine folder in "Program Files (x86)" instead)

-Regarding the installing or corruption based cause-

When you are installing the game and you receive errors copying files (Client_HighRes.dat Client_Sound.dat or Client_Surface.dat) and the "ignore" option is chosen you will later receive 201 errors launching the game.

The reason this occurs is because the installation installed corrupted or partial versions of these files. Look in "C:\Program Files\Turbine\The Lord of the Rings Online" and if you sort by file "type" you should find these files below listed.

The file sizes I've put down will vary depending on the hard-drive they're on and the version of Windows reporting it, but yours should be roughly these sizes, (Windows defaults usually to showing file size in KB so the number on the right is the kilobyte size again approximate)

If yours vary from that by a large amount most likely they are corrupted versions. Now if you received the errors during the installation of the game which is the biggest cause of this, that is usually because those three files that I've highlighted above were not copied correctly during the installation.

-Some of the Reasons that Windows has issues with copying bigger than 2GB files-

The hard-drive is still formatted in "FAT32" mode and not "NTFS" (rare but it's come up)

Active or previous malware infections are causing file corruption on large file copies (run a full system scan with updated antivirus and antispyware scanners as a just in case)

Your antivirus scanner itself is causing the corruption possibly because it is scanning the file while it is being copied or is injecting it with data (as an example "scanned by X, found safe on date.. etc").

The install setup files were copied/burned to a DVD-R or other removable media that does not support large file transfers or has corrupted sectors/data

If you are receiving 201 errors you are going to need to reinstall the game and have it copy "clean" files without using the "ignore" option on file copies, (try using Retry)

I would recommend that you do the following in order as a "pre-flight" checklist before re-installing the game:

Ensure that the full installation is completed (you should have 10 "bin" files and a "setup.exe" file for the standard res install or 17 "bin" files and a setup.exe for the high res install)

Make sure that your system's "Page File" size is at least 1.5X your installed ram memory (ie. if you have 4GB of RAM, make sure that the Page File size in Windows is set to a minimum of 6GB)

Run Scandisk, then Defrag on your drive that you are installing the game onto

Make sure you have a good amount of free space on the drive (I would say you should have free space to cover both the 10 to 12GB for the game install that you have and at least double your amount of installed RAM memory free beyond that for temp files/installing if possible, example: 10GB standard res install + 2GB of ram = have 14 to 16GB free space on your drive, 12GB hi-res install + 4GB of ram = have 20 to 22 GB free space, etc.)

After running a full system scan with your antivirus (just to be safe) then try a "clean boot" of Windows before starting the install (after the install finishes you can put Windows back to a normal boot by undoing the changes in those clean boot steps)

Disable any "download accellerator" software and/or any other bittorrent/file-sharing tools to help prevent conflicts.

-Reinstall steps-

Make sure that the game launcher is not open

Uninstall the game via "Uninstall a Program" (Vista/Win7) or "Add or Remove Programs" (XP)

Start the installation but if you get file copy errors again you may need to re-download the install, for that see here and here.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.

"Underlying Connection Was Closed Unable to Connect to the Remote Server"

The Underlying Connection Was Closed Unable to Connect to the Remote Server

If you are receiving this error currently one new cause of this issue that has cropped up is a trojan that has been setting Internet Explorer up to use a proxy address of http://127.0.0.1 if you are getting the above error, double-check that you are not using that proxy setting.

Open IE (used by the game launcher for its system-wide connection settings) and click on 'Tools' > 'Internet Options' > Connections (tab) > Lan Settings (button) and disable the "use a proxy server" option and click ok twice.

Immediately after that update and then run a full system scan with your antivirus and antispyware tools just to be sure the infection is not active.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.

Note: TheCustomer Support forums are best for player-to-player help, for direct official support, please submit a help request via the form here.

After submitting that ticket be sure to log in to your email providers website directly. Check spam/bulk mail folders and add noreply@turbine.com;techsupport@turbine.com and accountsupport@turbine.com to their "safe senders" list and your contacts list/address book as well. All tickets receive a reply but some responses get flagged as such and your email may not tell you it did so.